Ecuador President Declares State of Emergency in Provinces Due to Drug Trafficking

State of exception was decreed in three locations to fight organized crime; decision includes night curfew and mobilization of police and military

Reproduction / Facebook Guilhermo Lasso
In a televised speech, Lasso said the measures will bring “the fight against criminals to the very territory where they try to hide.”

the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lassodecreed the state of exception in three provinces of the country to fight the drug trafficking. The determination of the exception period includes the night curfew, the mobilization of 9,000 police and military personnel and starts to take effect from midnight this Saturday, 30, in the provinces of Guayas, Manabí and Esmeraldas, on the border with Colombia. In a televised speech, Lasso said that the measures will bring “the fight against criminals to the same territory where they try to hide with their goods”, and said that “the streets will feel the weight of the public force”. The president’s decision comes amid the increase in violence on the coast of Ecuador due to the presence of criminal groups, some even with ties to cartels in Mexico and Colombia, according to Ecuadorian authorities.

*With EFE